Search for Common Ground (Search) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful transformation of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, and Brussels, Belgium, Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict—moving away from destructive approaches and towards cooperative solutions.
Team Summary
The Program Development team creates new and repeat business for the organization in line with the Program Development Strategy. The Program Development team works closely with in-country Directors and Managers to ensure funding for programming that directly responds to the needs in Search’s conflict geographies. This function commences with scoping and pre-positioning for opportunities and completes with the signing of an award. This involves building program development strategies for conflict geographies, capturing opportunities, and leading Search’s engagement with institutional donors and partners. To develop successful bids the team works in close collaboration with other departments, including Finance, the Institutional Learning Team, Communications, and Human Resources. The Program Development team will build and strengthen the program development capacity within the organization.
This position sits on the Global hub within the Program Development team. The Global Hub provides critical support to Search’s fundraising efforts, focused on grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts with all institutional funders. Our vision is to continue professionalizing our organization’s business development through data-driven fundraising, effective partnerships, and by creating funding opportunities designed for Search.
Responsibilities
- Provides support to the Global Business Development Hub.
- Contributes to strengthening program development systems, tools, and knowledge management across the team.
- Formulates all funding opportunities from institutional donors.
- Leads the pursuit of assigned funding opportunities from institutional donors.
- Leads or co-leads program design and capture planning processes.
Contributions
- Strategy development: Carries out background research, record-keeping. Supports strategy processes.
- Business intelligence: Researches and monitors donors. Analyzes funding opportunities. Ensures internal record-keeping.
- Administrative: Ensures that internal trackers, portal access, tools, and resources are up to date.
- Strategy development: Carries out background research, record-keeping. Supports strategy processes.
- Business intelligence: Researches and monitors donors. Analyzes funding opportunities. Ensures internal record-keeping and maintenance of tracking systems in the Devex platform.
- Knowledge management: Ensures proper record-keeping, including in the Grants Management System (GMS). Tracks key program development data and prepares reports as requested. Updates contacts in the GMS. Updates the Program Development policy site as needed.
- Partnerships: Supports partnership discussions. Conducts partner analysis. Ensures knowledge management.
- Go/No-Go decisions: Conducts background research, including competitor analysis.
- Capture planning: Conducts desk reviews. Assembles pre-proposal material. Supports delivery of capture strategy.
- Program design: Provides input and support. Develops background material.
- Proposal development: Drafts specific sections of proposals or concepts. Lead-writes supporting material development.
- Proposal reviews: Participates on review teams.
Competency Behavior Indicators (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)
- Cross-Functional Communication: Engages and communicates effectively across functions, regions, and cultures; facilitates coordination among diverse teams.
- Representation & Relationship Building: Represents the team in internal and selected external meetings and forums; builds and maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders.
- Collaboration & Inclusion: Demonstrates appreciation for diverse viewpoints and ways of working; builds strong cross-functional and multicultural working relationships.
- Adaptability & Resilience: Shows flexibility in managing shifting priorities and deadlines; adapts approaches based on feedback and evolving contexts.
- Written Communication: Drafts high-quality technical content, briefing materials, and presentations with limited supervision; communicates program objectives clearly to varied audiences.
- Multicultural & Ethical Practice: Applies a multicultural perspective; recognizes ethical considerations and uses sound judgment in decision-making.
- Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving: Conducts analysis, uses data and tools to support decision-making, and identifies risks and mitigation options.
- Quality Control & Attention to Detail: Ensures accuracy and consistency of documents, data, and systems; reviews own and others’ work for quality.
- Time Management & Autonomy: Independently prioritizes time, manages multiple assignments, and meets deadlines with limited supervision.
- Safeguarding Awareness: Remains alert and responsive to safeguarding risks; understands and acts in accordance with safeguarding policies and procedures.
Type and Nature of Contacts
- Routinely coordinates with colleagues, consultants, and field teams, resolving problem situations with tact.
- Engages with donors, partners, and external stakeholders as assigned.
- Interacts regularly with country offices and regional staff.
Education and Experience
- Typically BS/BA with a minimum of 6 years’ experience in business development, program design, or a related field in the international development, humanitarian, or peacebuilding sector.
Working Conditions and Physical Requirements
- Usual office environment conditions; ability to travel internationally at least 20%.
Supervisory and Budget Responsibility
- May supervise interns or junior staff and may manage discrete components of business development budgets, trackers, or processes as assigned.
More Information
- Job City Nigeria
